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Jennifer Adams

Best MLS for Law Librarians, and Phd ? Anyone have it? Was it worth it?

Wondering if some experienced librarians can give feedback on what library schools are the best for MLS (for pursuing law librarianship) and, does anyone have a PhD in library science? If so, where did you get it?
Thanks
Jen

Tags: education

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I went to Indiana University and am pretty happy with the education I received for my MLS. I would suggest that you look for a SLIS school that offers lots of opportunities for jobs/internships while in school so that you can get some practical experience if you do not currently have any.

That being said, I believe that the popular consensus is that the University of Washington has the best law librarianship prep program.

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Thanks for the info Sarah. I have my MLS already, and I have been mentoring quite a few students. It is good to know that there is a popular opinion, and I was not aware of that. I get asked that a lot, and always draw a blank.
Thanks
Jen

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I believe the University of Washington has a well-respected law librarian program.

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Jen; US World an News Report ranks the UW program consistently as number 1 in law librarianship. I'm an alum of that program and I highly recommend it to anyone that asks.

Best;

Vicenç

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There is also the MLS program at the University of Arizona with Fellowships at the James E. Rogers College of Law Library - the Fellowships are the focus for law librarianship, there is no real law component to the MLS outside two classes offered by the director of the Law Library.

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Thank you all for your wonderful insights. I have found that the volunteers I work with are usually willing to relocate to another state for a graduate education, so it is good to know what to recommend. Thanks again.
Jen

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U. Washington is the only one still running a specialty program for law librarianship, I think, and is really stellar. Other than that, I think there are really good library & info science programs at many schools. I have a very good impression of Simmons, in Boston, of Missou, in Columbia, MO, of Syracuse, and those are just the ones whose students I have have gotten to know most.

The biggest difference I think is whether you have real library experience before and/or during library school. The people I knew who worked in libraries while they attended library school seemed to get a lot more out of their library school experience than I did, for instance. And I felt like I got so much more out of my graduate assistanceship in the government documents department at Univ. of KY than I did in the regular classes. So, I think the hand-on experience really can't be discounted.

If you don't already have some library experience, try VERY VERY hard to get a part time job of some kind in a library, or an internship before you graduate. Libraries have a totally unfair expectation to hire new librarians with real library work experience. It is so good to have something on your resume.

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